The present invention relates to a fastener dispensing device and, more particularly, to an improved device for dispensing fasteners of the type which are widely utilized in attaching tags or the like to various consumer goods or for fastening two or more articles together to form a unitary arrangement.
Fasteners as referred to herein mean such devices which are often called tagging pins and which individually include a filament having a head at one end of the filament and a crossbar formed at the other end thereof. The tag pins are manufactured from a synthetic resin, for example nylon or polypropylene, in the form of an integrally molded assembly, which generally consists of 20 to 50 individual fasteners which are connected through their respective connecting necks to a common connecting rod in an overall arrangment generally resembling a comb. For reasons having to do with the fabrication of molds for the manufacture of fastener assemblies and also the operation for dispensing fasteners by a dispensing device, individual fasteners are formed at certain spaced intervals on the common connecting rod.
Such fasteners are loaded assembly by assembly in a dispensing device and applied one at a time to articles such as fabric or other made-up goods by passing the respective crossbar through the articles. The fastener dispensing device itself includes a main body in the shape of a pistol and is often referred to as a tagging gun. In a front end or nose portion of the pistol-type main body, the device has a hollow needle which is slitted along a side thereof. In applying the fastener to an article, the needle is pierced into the article and an operation lever mounted in a front portion of the main body may then be gripped into the main body, whereby a pushing rod or driver such as a piston is operated to push the crossbar of a fastener through the needle and eventually through the article. When the needle is then pulled out of the article, the crossbar now has been pushed through the article and automatically returns to its original position perpendicular to the filament of the fastener, whereby the crossbar functions to anchor the dispensed fastener to the article and whereby a tag or the like is attached to the article. In addition, the fastening of a plurality of goods in a unitary arrangement can be accomplished in this manner.
As indicated above, the operation lever is mounted on the pistol-type main body in a manner capable of entering and coming out of the main body, and by gripping and releasing this lever, the driver is reciprocated in forward and backward directions, within the hollow needle.
In conventional fastener dispensing devices or guns, the driver is made of steel rod or soft rod, and with these conventional guns which make use of such a rigid driver, some difficulties are encountered. For example, if the article into which the needle is pierced is hard or if the needle is applied at a relatively great velocity of penetration, the needle may bend as described below.
When the article is so hard that the needle cannot with ease be applied into or through the article, a first problem occurs such that as a result of an attempt to forcibly apply the needle into the article, the needle may be caused to bend. If the hollow needle is bent when the driver is inserted in the needle, the driver cannot be pulled out of the needle. It then not only becomes necessary to replace the bent needle and driver and/or various driving parts for the driver but it is also likely that damage to the article will occur.
A second problem is concerned with the fact that conventional hollow needles are straight. Sometimes, needles have to be applied at other than a right angle to the article and it proves difficult to apply the needle at such inclinations.
A further difficulty with conventional tagging guns concerns a recently growing demand that the conventional guns should be made capable of an applied use for putting together two or more sheet-like products in a sewing manner. In this case, it is indispensably required to apply the needle at an inclination to sheet-like materials, but as pointed out above, it is difficult to carry out such sewing operation with conventional tagging guns.